The Chicago Blackhawks would face off against the defending Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals and would come away with an 8-5 win in Chicago.

This contest would fast and furious for the Chicago Blackhawks and would end the first period with a 3-1 lead, thanks to goals from Brandon Saad and Patrick Kane with the third goal credited to Jonathan Toews. The third goal would be due to Washington Capitals Dmitry Orlov hitting the puck into his own net.

The second period would get very chippy in the first six minutes of gameplay with six penalties being duelled out within 45 seconds. Washington would try to get shots in but nothing would hit in the second period, aside from Dmitry Orlov’s goal. Alex DeBrincat would score for Chicago, making the score 4-2 at the end of the second period.

The third period is when Washington would turn on the jets to make a full comeback and came within a goal to make the contest 5-4, but the comeback would not be enough as Chicago would score three more goals.

Jonathan Toews would score three goals in the contest, giving him his second hat trick on the season.

With an assist from Chicago’s Patrick Kane, he now has sole possession of third place in terms of assists all-time in the long and storied history of the Blackhawks franchise.

The Metropolitan Division-leading NY Islanders faced off against the slumping Anaheim Ducks and would go on to win this contest 3-0. With this win by the Islanders, they have now won their last five contests.

For Carolina, the scoring would be often. Nino Niederreiter would have two goals in the contest and Hurricanes phenom Sebastian Aho would find the score sheet three times with three assists in the start of a road trip for Carolina. Carolina’s Jaccob Slavin would have three assists of his own in this contest.

There are only four games in action today in the NHL. The first game starts at 3 p.m. with the Nashville Predators visiting the Colorado Avalanche.

In NWHL action yesterday, the Minnesota Whitecaps would close out the home portion of the regular season schedule with a win over the Connecticut Whale, sweeping the weekend series.

The Minnesota Whitecaps would go to throttle the Connecticut Whale by the score of 9-0 in front of another sold-out crowd at TRIA Rink.

Minnesota’s Jonna Curtis would lead all skaters for the Whitecaps with a goal and three assists in the contest and would once again tie all NWHL skaters for most points on the season. Curtis has 17 points on the season thus far.

Kendall Coyne Schofield had two goals and an assist in the contest and Katie McGovern would have two goals of her own.

Allie Thunstrom would also have a tally and a helper while Emma Stauber had two assists.

Kalli Funk would go on to net her first career NWHL goal.

Whitecaps goaltender Julie Friend picked up the shutout in her first career start, recording 18 saves.

For the Whale, star Meeri Räisänen would leave in the second period due to a collision and Laura Brennan would replace her in net. Brennan would have 11 saves on 18 attempts while Räisänen had 21 saves on 23 attempts before she had to depart the contest.